3) “Palestine’s Guernica and the Myths of Israeli Victimhood” by Mustafa Barghouthi

– A report on the condition of the hospitals in Gaza

Rela Mazali writes:

Absent from Israeli and most other TV networks are the ongoing activism and protest inside Israel against Israel’s siege and, now, war on Gaza. Immediately below is a link to a televised report on two of many such actions. In Hebrew and Arabic with no English (or other) subtitles, they nevertheless offer glimpses of current activism in Israel. The first segment documents a demonstration in Tel Aviv and bits of the police reaction. The second was recorded at a public meeting, just hours before the demonstration, addressed jointly by Palestinian and Israeli members of Combatants for Peace. The reports were created by the alternative media group, Social TV (for details on the group see: http://www.tv.social.org.il/ful-profile-social-tv-eng.rtf):http://www.tv.social.org.il/medini/stv-aza-oferet-27-12-08.htm

I guess it’s appropriate that my best Kwanzaa celebration should start with Christmas. I had been raised celebrating the traditional holiday, although, in truth, I’d dropped out of the Catholic Church a few decades ago and the day held little for me but memories. But it wasn’t a search for a new holiday that brought me to Kwanzaa, it was Wal-Mart. My daughters in New Orleans had sent me a present (I had not given up that part of the celebration), and one of the items didn’t fit so on the Saturday following Christmas, I set off to exchange it.

My nearest Wal-Mart is in an upper middle class neighborhood of Los Angeles known as Leimert Park, home to a large African American population. As I got close, I noticed traffic starting to slow down, and finally stop. Anyone who lives in LA knows that a traffic jam is possible any time day or night, but this was ridiculous for a Saturday afternoon. Finally I got to where I could look ahead for a few blocks, and saw a parade. Why, I wondered, would they be holding the Christmas parade 2 days after Christmas? As it turned out, they were not holding a Christmas parade at all. It was a Kwanzaa parade, going right through the heart of the business district, in the middle of which sat Wal-Mart.

The ongoing violence in the Middle East has sparked international condemnation protests all around the world. Demonstrations took place in many U.S. cities, including Washington. Americans, Palestinians and even Israeli citizens went into the streets to say no to violence.

The pieces listed above provide more information and analysis about the situation in Gaza, as well as suggestions for actions you can take (items marked with ** above).

The pieces below make the following points:

— Israel’s actions in Gaza rise to the level of war crimes
— In providing material aid for Israel throughout the siege and attacks, the US is directly complicit with these war crimes
— In committing these crimes, Israel continues to create a situation that puts its own citizens at risk
— Rocket attacks on civilians in Israel by Palestinian groups are illegal and morally abhorrent

Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip was predictable, if not preventable. Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians simply could not take place on such a massive scale were it not for US support. The American people, therefore, have a responsibility to act and pressure their government to end its financial, military, and diplomatic support for Israeli violations of international law — a necessary first step towards any viable and sustainable peace.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has long been in the planning, and the purpose is to terrorize the Arab population in the hopes that they will revolt against the Hamas leadership and to punish them further for electing them. The siege Gaza has remained under since Israel withdrew its military from the Strip in 2006 has had the same intended purpose.

A comparable policy was implemented by the US against Iraq. The sanctions were intended to further the goal of regime change. The means by which this goal was pursued was to punish the Iraqi people, to deny them food and medical supplies. By United Nations estimates, more than a million Iraqis died as a result. More than half a million of those victims were children.

(Larnaca, Cyprus, 10:00 am) On Tuesday, December 30, at 5 a.m., several Israeli gunboats intercepted the Dignity as she was heading on a mission of mercy to Gaza. One gunboat rammed into the boat on the port bow side, heavily damaging her. The reports from the passengers and journalists on board is that she is taking on water and appears to have engine problems. When attacked, the Dignity was clearly in international waters, 90 miles off the coast of Gaza.

The following is an exclusive Press TV interview with US congressman Ron Paul, a unique conservative politician who wants an end to US military presence on foreign soil, advocates US withdrawal from the UN, NATO and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and opposes the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Ron Paul, House representative of the 14th district of Texas, believes that US foreign policy must be reformed to avoid conflicts around the world.

The interview was conducted outside the Foreign Relations Committee.

Press TV: What is your opinion on the idea of the US blocking Iran’s oil exports and preventing its gasoline imports from reaching the country (based on H. Con. Res. 362 previously sought by US congressmen)?

Paul: I think it is an outrage I think it is a blockade. It is the use of force to stop the inflow of petroleum products and people and goods, banking, trains, cars, trucks, cargos. It’s all prohibited. How can we stop that without the use of the navy and without the use of force? This idea is not a blockade it is just pure silliness on their part [US senators and congressmen].

If we bomb them, that’s the start of hostilities. They (US policy makers) are never willing to take anything off the table, which includes a nuclear-first strike. So, if they do that do you think the Iranians are going to sit still? They are going to react!

The opposition said that, well, we don’t want them to block the Strait of Hormuz [the Persian Gulf waterway which allows the passages of a third of the world’s daily oil supply]. They ought to change their policy because they are more likely to get the Strait of Hormuz blocked if we persist on this. If we do any bombing or we put on a blockade, it’s going to lead to big trouble.

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Israel has vowed to fight Hamas to the death. Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said that the ongoing air attacks on Gaza are a war to the bitter end against Hamas militants. Palestinian doctors say more than 300 hundred people have been killed in three days of air strikes.

U.S.-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters have fired missiles and dropped over 100 tons of bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Over 300 people are dead and at least 1,400 more are injured. Many if not most of them are civilians. Food and medicine were already in short supply in Gaza and all medical facilities have been completely overwhelmed by this onslaught. Access to Gaza has been cut off by Israel.

So much has been written about the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip and by people with a far greater understanding of the reality of it than I, nevertheless I feel impelled to put pen to paper not only about our collective indifference to the wholesale slaughter being carried out in the name of the ‘chosen people’ but to the media’s ‘coverage’ that has been nothing short of scandalous and especially the BBC’s.

On the sixth day of Hanukkah, 2008, as Jews around the world were readying to light the seventh candle on the menorah, commemorating the victorious rebellion of Judah Macabbee and the re-dedication of the Temple of Jerusalem 2200 years ago, a terrorist, Zionist entity, with the approval of the world’s last “Superpower” rained down death and destruction on men, women and children herded together on a sliver of the land they had once cultivated and shared with their fellow Semites.

Characteristically, a spokesman for the last Superpower blamed the herded people, the bombed and slaughtered, for their own miseries. It seems these herded Palestinians had had the effrontery to rebel against their Zionist masters in Tel Aviv, London, Jerusalem, New York and Washington.

Israeli government attacks civilians in violation of international law

U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich today released the following statement as Israeli attacks on Gaza have gone into a third day with a pending ground invasion of Gaza by Israel:

“Today I sent a letter to Secretary General Ban ki-Moon urging the United Nations to establish an independent inquiry of Israel’s war against Gaza. The attacks on civilians represent collective punishment, which is a violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/92.htm). The perpetrators of attacks against Israel must also be brought to justice, but Israel cannot create a war against an entire people in order to attempt to bring to justice the few who are responsible. The Israeli leaders know better. The world community, which has been very supportive of Israel’s right to security and its right to survive, also has a right to expect Israel to conduct itself in adherence to the very laws which support the survival of Israel and every other nation,” Kucinich said.

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The Senate voted to save net neutrality. Now we need the House of Representatives to do the same, or else the FCC will let ISPs like Comcast and Verizon ruin the internet with throttling, censorship and unnecessary fees. Click the image below to write to Congress.

The Golden Rule

“That which is hateful to you do not do to another ... the rest (of the Torah) is all commentary, now go study.” - Rabbi Hillel

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

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